Machine Slaughter Is Not Halal
Fingers were not lickin’ good for KFC in their bid to sell fried chicken to Muslim customers in Britain. Because Machine Slaughter is Not Halal and Its a Crime Against Muslims.
It hoped to woo the Islamic market by opening over 100 outlets selling halal-only meat, slaughtered under strict religious guidelines, but somehow it failed to follow strict halal guidelines and ended up creating controversy and haram. Dr Naseem Chairman of Birmingham Central Mosque said the method of slaughtering used, a machine, was not Halal, they are not being slaughtered in the right way, the slaughtering must be performed by a muslim and reciting the verse from the Koran on each and every animal. This is a critically important part of halal, as per the guidance for halal as set by the Food Standards Agency. The fact that the prayers are being broadcast over a speaker means that each bird it not blessed individually as it is killed by a slaughtering machine. KFC insisted their methods met the approval of the Halal Food Authority (HFA), a private business. However, a survey carried out by Islamic Scholars in the UK concluded that machine slaughter was not considered to be halal, this view was also endorsed by Lancashire Council of Mosques at their meeting with KFC, and also by the Birmingham Council of Mosques who have also gone on record that machine slaughter is Haraam and asking a private business to certify the product does not make it halal. Dr Yunes Teinaz, advisor to the Islamic Cultural Centre and the London Central Mosque Trust, said: “What is required is a government-supervised body for the sale and production of halal meat, with enforceable guidance for halal to the local authority enforcement officers who would be required to use this advice when planning inspections, food sampling and labelling checks relating to halal foods. This would protect the interests of the Muslim Community, prevent mislabelling and misrepresentation of halal foods, a real issue and concern. “We have now warned the U.K.’s 2.4 million Muslims not to eat KFC meat”, Imam Yusuf Shabbir of the Lancashire Council of Mosques said, “..with KFC confirming to us that it has no intention of changing the mechanical method of slaughter we will advise members of the Muslim community of this.” Any companies claiming to do machine slaughter will also be deemed to be not Halal. How can KFC claim some of their restaurant are halal and the majority of them are not, when the same slaughtering process has been adopted which is identical for both type of restaurant, its either halal or not, it can’t be both, that’s why its important to label every thing 100%. With the Daily Mail highlighting this issue last month, that all the KFC restaurants are serving halal and the UK public uninformed. However, KFC had done nothing to change its policy serving the same ‘halal’ machine slaughtered meat to both unsuspecting customers, muslims and non-muslims alike. Lord Nazir Ahmed of Rotherham said in his interview in front of the Houses of Lord that Machine slaughter / Blessed Blade is not method for Halal slaughtering, he also stated that companies that are issuing Halal certificates to Organisation for Machine slaughter / Blessed Blade are committing a crime and should be reported to the government/ Local Authorities.
Originally published in http://www.halalnews.co.uk